


shadowkat | Doctor Who Review - Wooden Dolls ( and a bit of nerdy sniping at George Lucas)

by shadowkat67



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Episode Related, Episode Review, Meta, Multi, Steven Moffat Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-03
Updated: 2011-09-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 03:29:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,175
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22380334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadowkat67/pseuds/shadowkat67





	shadowkat | Doctor Who Review - Wooden Dolls ( and a bit of nerdy sniping at George Lucas)

**Doctor Who - Night Terrors.** (I think that was the name of the last episode.) Not bad for a Mark Gatsiss episode, although...it's probably just me, but I don't think this writer likes or can write for female characters, and should be exchanged for a female writer - or so says the rabid feminist in me. Down rabid feminist! Down! (Don't worry the rest of the review is not in this tone. Not that you were, but just in case.)

Night Terrors or the episode where Mark Gatsiss has a little boy alien turn Amy Pound into a wooden doll.

Not sure where they are going here, but this is the second, make that third time, in four consecutive episodes where Amy is either being saved or turned into something or someone turns in to her, creating a copy of her.

* Amy has a copy made of her, and is whisked away in S6. The copy looks like Amy, but is actually Living Flesh. (Rebel Flesh and it's sequel - S6)

* First episode, Let's Kill Hitler, A copy is made of Amy, in which Amy and Rory are transported inside of and put in mortal danger until the Tardis, captained by River/Melody gets them out of Amy.

* Amy is turned into a wooden doll and is chasing Rory to turn him into one too.

I sense a pattern forming here. Are we supposed to fear Amy or fear for Amy? OR is this the Doctor and Rory's fears we're inside of?

Also according to the previews, Amy is once again either in jeopardy or putting someone else in jeopardy and Rory has to make a choice. Rory is starting to become the hero and Amy the damsel or a really weird twist on the damsel.

As for the story itself? I figured it out long before I was supposed to. It's very close to a classic Rod Serling Twilight Zone episode - **"It's a Good Life"** (November 1961),about a child who terrorizes a town with his special powers. The child in the Twilight Zone episode was played by Bill Mummy from Lost in Space. In the episode everything that makes the boy unhappy is thrown into the corn field or turned into a toy. The child is in reality a mutant alien and controls everything. The twist here is that the child isn't evil and doesn't intend to hurt anyone, he's just terrified that they will send him away, that they don't want him.

This is a clear metaphor for Rory/Amy and The Doctor's own situation with River Song/Melody Pound - the monster alien child they've created. Not sure what to do with Melody. They leave her in a hospital sick, and scamper off in their time machine. Much as the little boy fears being taken by a "doctor". Also "perception" is emphasized. As the Doctor tells the father, the boy perceives these things as scary, he doesn't know he's the monster, he sees everything else as being the monster. From the boy's pov, we are the monsters. An echo of what River tells the Doctor in A Good Man Goes to War - in people of the forest and River, and The Silence's pov, The Doctor is the monster, the scary thing. Their perception much like the little boy's is skewed, as is Melody's...but is it?

It's about how our fears are often based on lies, or skewed perception.

So there's a double twist here - the child is the monster causing the problem, but at the same time he's not a monster, not really, just a child who is afraid of losing those he loves, afraid of rejection.

The focus here - oddly is on the father's rejection not the mother's. The Doctor spends a lot of time with the father, who says that George isn't his, and what is he getting in to, the Doctor says you have to convince him that you love him, that you will never leave him...and he will stop. Accept him as yours, regardless of what he may be. The mother already does - she's at work, he's the nurturer/provider. The mother is playing well the traditional father role - the provider. Same with Amy and Rory - Rory's acceptance of Melody...not Amy's is in question here. Amy is turned into the Wooden Doll threatening Rory, Amy, like George's mother is removed from the equation. It's Rory and The Doctor who are struggling. Rory and the Doctor who were given no time to bond with Melody, while Amy clearly already has - both in captivity and as best mates in childhood. But Rory hasn't.

Also the perspective we're in here is Rory and The Doctor's - Amy is turned into a Wooden Doll by George. She's turned into a vessel by the Justice. She's become Living Flesh by The Silence. Removed from them, and it's because of a child - a weapon forged to take out the Doctor. They ask River for help to get her back, and River turns them down. Much like George's father - Doctor and Rory are struggling with how to deal with Melody. Amy was pregnant, but they have no memory of it. Amy had Melody, but they have no memory of it. In some respects this underlines the difference between father's and mother's - the man doesn't get to experience the pregnancy, he doesn't bond with the child until after the child is born. Yet, still not quite or not in the same way. Even with adopted children, there's a different relationship or appears to be. As my father used to say - a child must earn its father's love and respect, while a mother's is given unconditionally. Here - in this episode, the Doctor requests that George's father take a leap of faith and love George unconditionally. Note it's the father not the mother who finds out what George is and must do this.

In the last episode...Amy was forced to accept Melody, even though she knows Melody kills the Doctor. Even though she watches her daughter do it. But Amy fights for Melody's life. It's never a question in her mind. We must go after her. But Rory...is another place. I'm in my wife's body, this is unnerving. He is used to being the nurse, the care-taker, and he can't be.

Additionally, the mundane is made fearsome. The landlord. The old lady next door. The dollhouse.  
The toys.

And finally...the wooden dolls. The living flesh. The Justice inside the Robot. The hollow item filled with the human personality. The Impossible Astronaut Suit housing River Song - who kills the Doctor. It's reminiscent of that game of chinese wooden dolls, pull them apart and you find a new doll and a new doll...and a new doll, until finally the jewel hidden within. We have hollow suites with people hidden inside.

So, a better episode if watched with the others. Alone, not much. With the other episodes...more interesting. Doctor Who or rather Stephen Moffat's Who is often, not always, but often made more interesting with analysis.


End file.
